Senior Director of the Enforcement Group within the Colorado Department of Revenue is determined to create proper business and safety
practices throughout the medical marijuana industry.

48 Minimizing The Cost

iRC Section 280E prevents dispensaries from deducting legitimate
business expenses since marijuana is still classified as a controlled
substance. Read this information to get the most out of your medical
marijuana business deductions.

114 KushCon

Sure to be the largest cannabis lifestyle convention ever, KushCon will
be at the Denver Convention Center December 17-19. The not to be
missed event of the year.

126 Holiday Events

it’s the hap, happiest time of the year. Colorado is filled with great
holiday happenings for you, your family and friends.
6

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year ago, Kush Colorado known now as Kush Magazine,
Colorado’s premier cannabis lifestyle magazine, hit the streets of Colorado. In
this year we have become heavily ingrained in the medical cannabis community,
advertising for hundreds of dispensaries, medical doctors, edible companies and
other businesses related to the medical marijuana industry.
We feel privileged to have become a familiar presence in Colorado and to have
met so many wonderful and passionate people who have been instrumental in
making Colorado the first state in the nation to have a Constitutional amendment
allowing for the sale and growing of medical marijuana for profit in their state.
While most of us agree there are still many hurdles to overcome, especially following
the November election where many cities decided to “opt out” of allowing medical
marijuana centers in their community, Colorado is developing into one of the
most cohesive networks of business professionals comprised of medical marijuana
center owners, growers, medical doctors and edible companies as well as attorneys,
congressmen, state employees and officers, and advocates all working to assure that
Colorado’s medical marijuana patients are afforded their medication.
Kush Magazine and dailybuds.com have been involved the entire time and has
attempted to provide business owners and readers the latest information available

So as a thank you to the medical marijuana community we are throwing a three day Merry Kushmas
Party, better known as KushCon II... by far the largest
cannabis lifestyle convention ever put on anywhere in
the world...
regarding the medical marijuana industry. We have also encouraged our advertisers
to be competitive and offer the best medicine for the best prices to all of the patients
who have become avid readers of our magazine.
So as a thank you to the medical marijuana community we are throwing a
three day Merry Kushmas Party, better known as KushCon II. This event, which
will be December 17-19 at the Colorado Convention Center, and is by far the
largest cannabis lifestyle convention ever put on anywhere in the world, is sure to
be the greatest celebration of how far the movement has come in Colorado as well
as nationwide. The entertainment which includes, Mickey Avalon, Asher Roth,
The Flobots, The Dirty Heads, Aaron Lewis of Staind, Mix Master Mike, War and
Santana lead singer Gregg Rolie, promises to be an incredible event. There will be
no medication on the premises, so all ages are welcome (see pp 114-115 for more
details). In an effort to keep disseminating valuable cannabis related information
to patients and medical cannabis business owners, there will be breakout rooms
featuring speakers from legal, political and the overall medical cannabis industry
that will share their knowledge and experiences. With hundreds of vendors and
dozens of non profits all dedicated to medical marijuana and patients rights, this
event will be nothing short of awesome.
As we enter the holiday season, Kush Magazine and dailybuds.com wishes
each and every one of our readers, advertisers and advocates in the community a
heartfelt Happy Holiday and a peaceful and prosperous New Year. Each of you can,
and do make a difference and as we continue on our journey to promote medical
marijuana as a right rather than a fight for all involved, we are particularly thankful
to have been able to be part of the great advances to individual rights that have been
afforded to the citizens of Colorado.
Kush Editorial Board, www.dailybuds.com

he incredible cannabis boom in Colorado
wasn’t necessarily embraced by voters last
month, with a large chunk of the state banning
dispensaries in their jurisdictions.
Voters in 42 municipalities across the state
were asked if they wanted dispensaries to operate
in their areas. Only eight regions voted in favor
of dispensaries, while the remaining 34 regions
voted against them, according to information
compiled by the Marijuana Policy Project
(MPP), a Washington D.C.-based non-profit that
tracks marijuana policy in the U.S.
The results add a whole new level of
regulation to the cannabis playing field in
Colorado. That means the decision no longer
belongs to state legislators, but rather voters
and government officials in cities and counties
throughout the state.
“The whole game is changing a lot,” said Eric
Hatch, owner of Hatch Wellness Center based in
Highlands Ranch, which is located in Douglas
County where voters banned MMJ dispensaries
on Nov. 2.
Douglas County asked voters if
dispensaries should be banned from operating in
unincorporated parts of the county, with a total
of 43,808 voters saying yes and 28,013 voting
no. That’s with over 95 of the precincts counting.
Currently, four dispensaries, including Hatch
Wellness Center, exist in Douglas County. Hatch
believes his operation will be grandfathered
into the new county law. Yet Douglas County

10
1 kush L.A.

officials are still ironing out the details of what
the ban means for Hatch and the other dispensary
owners.
“Now we’re evaluating to see what the voter
decision exactly means. We are in an evaluation
period right now,” said Wendy Holmes, the
director of public affairs for Douglas County.
“There are existing businesses in the county.
Now that we have the voter’s decisions, we’re
trying to figure out what happens next.”
Douglas County’s attorney general is
currently reviewing the law and hopes to clarify
what’s next for those businesses by year’s end,
Holmes said.
The city of Aurora is going through a similar
process, trying to implement the recently
approved ban. A total of 42,850 residents voted
to ban dispensaries in Aurora, while 40,013
voted in favor of them.
“There’s an ordinance before council’s
review that will put the prohibition into effect,”
said Aurora spokeswoman Kim Stuart.
Unlike other cities and counties across the
state, Aurora doesn’t have any dispensaries in
city limits. The local government opted not to
issue such business licenses leading up to the
2010 general election. The city decided the
voters should decide what happens.
The Colorado General Assembly made
it possible for cities and counties to put the
question of banning dispensaries up to the voters
in newly adopted medical marijuana law passed
by legislatures last spring.
“They put it to the vote of the people, and

Conejos County
Custer County
Douglas County
Garfield County
Mesa County
Moffat County
Montrose County
Otero County
Washington County
Akron
Antonito
Aurora
Bloomfield
Castle Pines North
DeBeque
Dinosaur
Elizabeth
Federal Heights
Fountain

Cities and counties in
Colorado that voted to
allow MMJ dispensaries
Alamosa County
Costilla County
Eagle County
El Paso County

Grand County
Park County
Fraser
Minturn

•(Charts courtesy of Marijuana Policy Project):

I’m proud of them for doing that,” Hatch said,
noting that he’s glad that voters in suburban
areas such as Douglas County, decided to
prohibit dispensaries.
Hatch doesn’t want Highlands Ranch to
have the same influx of MMJ storefronts as
Denver. He said it degrades the city.
“The people of Highlands Ranch saw
what happened to other cities,” Hatch said.
The Marijuana Policy Project said in a
report to Sensible Colorado, a non-profit that
supports the medical marijuana community,
that, “it is important to note that there are
many other cities across the state, from
Denver to Boulder to Colorado Springs, that
already allow dispensaries. These votes were
taken in cities where elected officials are
interested in enacting bans on dispensaries, as
state law requires that this issue be put to a
vote of the people. In addition, these results
do not change the current status of medical
marijuana in Colorado.”

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12

‘TIS THE SEASON FOR SLIPPERY FALLS, SNOWBOARDING
SPILLS AND LIFTING HEAVY BOXES. INJURY IS DECEPTIVE
since often we don’t realize that perhaps we overdid it in the new post -thanksgiving workout. Sometimes a muscular
injury can linger as a dull ache or pain when actually tissue, tendons or nerves may actually be damaged. As disciplined
or motivating “pushing through the pain” may seem, often we do more damage than good by aggravating an injury.
Sports injury, perhaps the most common form of injury, includes: medial & lateral epicondylitis, frozen
shoulder, plantar fascitis, acute olecranon bursitis, acromioclavicular joint separation, rotator cuff tendonitis,
osteoarthritis of all joints, meniscal tears, bicepital tenosynovitis, lumbar disc herniations, anterior & posterior
cruciate ligament tears, patellofemoral syndrome, Osgood Schlatters syndrome, and more.
Pro sports teams and clubs often have acupuncturists on staff to decrease healing time and treat
lingering injuries. Acupuncture has been used for centuries to treat acute injuries and was and still is used
commonly in martial arts to speed up healing. Repetative physical activity is one of the easiest ways to
injury yourself; that’s why so many exercise programs emphasize muscle confusion and of course, the
importance of stretching. But if you do go overboard and find your tennis elbow has turned into no-moretennis elbow, acupuncture may be an excellent way to aid the healing process and get you back to serving
up aces.
Acupuncture plays the role of inducer in the healing process and the effect are accomplished because
acupuncture decreases inflation and swelling, relaxes the muscles and improves blood circulation. Some
athletes with sprains have even reported a 3-day healing time as opposed to 1-2 weeks that the healing
process takes with the absence of acupuncture.
Chronic injuries can be effectively treated with acupuncture as well. If that knee you “messed up”
playing high school football still bothers you when it rains and “goes out” every once in a while, your injury
may never have properly healed. Chronic injuries are a deficient condition, meaning that the affected
area is losing strength and stability. What acupuncture does is treat the surrounding muscles and areas
near the injury to increase stimulation while simultaneously reducing pain. Chronic injuries often take
longer to treat (8-10 sessions is generally the consensus on when you will start to see improvement in
a lingering injury area.) but if it’s a coin-toss between lifelong pain and discomfort, 8-10 sessions and
regular follow-ups don’t sound so bad.
As with every injury, it is always a good idea to get an MRI or x-ray to know exactly where the
damage is. Many acupuncturists and chiropractors provide these services but you may need to
see your doctor. In any case, the not knowing can cause more harm in the long run so it’s
better to be err on the side of caution when it comes to your body. It is after all, the only one
we’ve got!

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concerning issue highlighting the immediate need for patient
privacy protections emerged in Colorado in recent months.
Although the specific concern arose in the narrow context
of a medical marijuana patient’s right to possess a
patient card under the Colorado Constitution and a
firearm under the United States Constitution, the
issue is significant and could be a “canary in the coal mine” for those concerned
with the privacy implications of the emerging medical marijuana industry.
The following is a quote taken directly from a letter received by a patient from
a sheriff’s office in the Denver metropolitan area (the name of the patient and the
county where the letter originated has been intentionally withheld):
“This [sheriff’s department] has been notified by the Colorado Bureau of
Investigation that you are now prohibited from firearm possession due to the
following:
Per Federal Law, as long as you are in possession of a medical marijuana
permit/card/certificate, you are considered an unlawful user of a controlled
substance and therefore prohibited from possessing or purchasing firearms.
This Federal prohibition is valid for one year from the issue date of the permit/
card/certificate and will continue to be in effect for one year intervals as long as
you continue to be in possession of a medical marijuana permit/card/certificate.”
(italics and underline added for emphasis)
Translation: The federal government infers that every card holding medical
marijuana patient in Colorado is an “unlawful user” of a controlled substance
and all card holding patients are therefore prohibited from possessing firearms
under federal law. Currently, people directly involved with medical marijuana
generally understand that the possession of any amount of medical marijuana
is illegal under federal law. However, many of those same people have probably
not anticipated that in the eyes of the federal government, the merely possession
of a patient card evidences “unlawful use” of a controlled substance. It is likely
that even fewer people anticipated that the possession of a patient card has the
potential to “lawfully” deny more than 2% of all Colorado citizens the right under
the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution to possess a firearm.
To be fair, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (the state agency charged
with doing the background checks for most firearm purchases) does not appear
to be actively seeking a list of patients in order to deny Second Amendment
rights, but the letter quoted above makes it clear that the agency can and will use
public records involving patient status (i.e. information obtained from courts or

20

district attorney’s offices involving patients or caregivers) for any lawful purpose,
including incorporating such information into the background checks required
to purchase a firearm in most situations and for the issuance of a concealed
weapons permit.
Unfortunately, this scenario is just another example of systematic
discrimination against patients whose status as a patient has fallen into the hands
of parties not contemplated by Amendment 20 to the Colorado Constitution.
Other examples have included (but are certainly not limited to) termination from
employment, eviction from subsidized housing and separation of patients from
their children. The bottom line is that the identity of every one of Colorado’s
medical marijuana patients must be protected to the maximum extent possible.
Current regulatory proposals by the Colorado Department of Revenue directly
address the collection and use of patient information, including the video
recording of each retail transaction at licensed Medical Marijuana Centers. While
the necessity of such practices may be legitimate and could have a net positive
effect on the public’s confidence in the industry over the long term, the industry

THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT INFERS
THAT EVERY CARD
HOLDING MEDICAL
MARIJUANA PATIENT
IN COLORADO IS AN
“UNLAWFUL USER”
OF A CONTROLLED
SUBSTANCE
must demand that either the strongest possible regulations be put into place to
prevent the misuse of patient information or that the law be changed in the next
legislative session to safeguard patient’s privacy rights.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Fertile Ground is a monthly column published in KUSH Magazine highlighting the hottest
state and national issues surrounding marijuana reform. This column is brought to you
by Brian Vicente, the Executive Director of the advocacy group Sensible Colorado, and a
partner at Vicente Consulting LLC, a full-service medical marijuana law firm.

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SHELDON BLACK HAS BEEN
ON A TEAR SINCE BECOMING
SHELDON BLACK. This is not too surprising

considering their previous experience and success in producing premium smoke ware. The same force driving the SB label
is who brought ROOR products to the American market in the
mid 90s as an independent unit of the now ubiquitous moniker in smoking culture. However, in the late 2000s as hoards of
counterfeit ROOR products flooded the market and differences
arose amongst the parent German company and the licensed US
division, ROOR USA closed up shop and transitioned into Sheldon Black.
Today the Sheldon Black brand is rapidly gaining widespread
recognition in the smoking world for their line of high-end glass
products. With complete control of design, production, and
marketing of their own label, the team behind Sheldon Black
focuses on fulfilling the promise of creating quality innovative
devices that hit better than any other pieces available. The SB
Single Chamber Bubbler is a testament representing what their
entire line stands for.
The Sheldon Black Bubbler includes all the unique design elements that make a Sheldon Black design stand apart from the
products of every other glass maker. The piece itself is reminiscent of the classic ROOR bubbler except everything has been
beefed up and several enhancements have been made to its over26

all design and construction.
The Sheldon Black Bubbler
comes with four separate
glass pieces that are perfectly crafted and removable
making the piece incredibly
easy to set-up, transport, and
clean.
The main chamber
stands on a sturdy base of
very thick glass and features the simple and classy
Sheldon Black cursive logo
down the side. Each crevice
and rounded surface has
been expertly smoothed
over, especially the sidearm leading to a 14mm
joint for the detachable
mouth piece. The glass of
the mouth piece flows perfectly to a hole which
is just the right shape
and size allowing for
optimum balance
and pressure when

gathering smoke in the chamber and inhaling.
What really sets apart Sheldon Black from the competition
is the quality and innovation in which they approach diffusion.
The 6-arm removable down stem, which also features the Sheldon Black logo, is a truly impeccable demonstration of glasswork
being totally symmetrical and sturdy with perfect slits for filtration. To top off the bubbler, a large solid matching bowl is included.
Besides being blown to absolute precision and including the
Sheldon Black cursive logo, each piece of glass features the SB
engraving which not only looks awesome but also serves as an
anti-counterfeiting measure, a major factor in the design of each
piece and the development of Sheldon Black as a company.
Subtle touches such as these are the pride of Sheldon Black
and have propelled them to elite status in the world of glass products. The time and effort the company takes making each piece of
glass is instantly apparent when looking at or using the bubbler.
As far as performance goes, the Sheldon Black results in one
of the best all around tokes you can get out of any piece. The rate
it clears is perfect and the hit is incredibly smooth. You get good
size snaps on it and it is an excellent choice for a smoking device
in almost any situation and travels well too.

Overall the Sheldon Black Bubbler is one of the finest pieces
available and is highly recommended if you want to smoke the
best and are willing to spend the cash to do so. Sheldon Black
is quickly becoming the company leading the glass industry in
making the highest quality products.
Beyond the Single Chamber Bubbler which is perhaps their
most simple product, SB has now ventured into creating all sorts
of models based on different diffusion innovations and has also
developed new lines featuring more artistic glass designs. Look
ahead for big things to come from Sheldon Black.

AD
here

AD
here

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Avalanche Hockey is off to another great start! With
the first two month’s calendar showing more road
games than home games, the team is in 2nd place in
the Western Conference at 12-9-1(at the time of writing this article). It was a great comeback win early this
season in Detroit, coming down from two goals, and really
showing the determination of this young team. Would coming to
fisticuffs immediately after the initial drop of the puck send a message to the league not to mess with the Avalanche? Well that’s exactly
what went down between Avalanche forward Chris Stewart and New
York Islander Zenon Konopka October 16th. This bad blood may trace
back to last year when Konopka was on the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Konopka is known for his fighting, leading the league with thirty three
fights last year. Was this an undermining attempt to get our top scorer
Stewart penalized, or knocked out of the game? Thankfully along with
great skating and puck movement, Stewart also knows how to defend himself, and throw a punch.
The Avalanche really need to work on their defense in
front of the net. With only four teams taking more shots
against them on goal, it’s only a matter of time before
the laws of averages catch up with our boys. Rookie
goalkeeper Craig Anderson is holding his own right
down the middle of the road with four wins and four
losses, while Peter Budaj has maintained his share

of the net duties with an 8-5-1 record. This percentage of wins/losses will only last so long before we get
swallowed up by the rest of the division, and/or league.
This young Avalanche team still has a lot to prove, to
themselves and the rest of the Western Conference. Although just behind the newly improved Canucks team in the Northwest Division, at

For more info on tickets, or to see the rest of the Avalanche’s
schedule, visit www.Avalanche.NHL.com ….. And make sure to
get out to The Pepsi Center this coming home stand to support
The Avalanche!

25 points, it might not cut it this season, given that this division has
the lowest point production of the entire NHL. On the upside, the Avalanche’s away record stands at 6-5-1, which is optimistic considering
after the home opener we had to head out immediately for a tough five
game road trip. It seemed to do the team well, and was a great opportunity for the veterans to gel with some of the new faces on the roster.
With the formalities of the new season already underway, the month
of December promises to keep Avalanche fans rocking. There are 16
home games here at the Pepsi Center between December 13th and the
end of January, so make sure to plan your hockey nights ahead of time.
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By: Alex Brain

Question:I know what kind of pot I like but what about hash?
- Alec & Harris - Boulder County, CO

Buckie: Aside from using different cannabis strains, an array of
techniques can be used to procure many different hash products.
First, lets look at a breakdown of readily available hash types:
Bubble Hash: Using a system of bags attached to different size screens, a
bucket, good old fashion H20 and a little elbow grease, one can produce a hash
product referred to as “Bubble Hash”. The bubble technique may produce hash of
varying potency resulting from the different sized screens. However, even though
the resulting substance varies , FSL tests demonstrate similar potency despite
differences in appearance. A benefit of using water to facilitate cannabinoid
extraction is that all steps can be considered “organic” if using organically
grown cannabis. The only downside of the bubble technique is low potency
numbers compared to solvent or gas extraction techniques. An MMJ patient can
expect most bubble hash to have a more concentrated potency than buds alone.
Hash Oil (butane extraction): This technique for producing hash is the target
of debate in the Colorado cannabis community. Typically, hash oil is created
through a cannabis extraction process that involves a solvent or gas. Butane
extracted hash oil is the most common variant available to Colorado MMJ
patients due to its effectiveness in creating a very potent product, despite the
potential for danger when working with or consuming butane extracts. This
safety concern stems from the idea that butane is a volatile gas and there is
butane residue present in most butane hash oil. One contributor to the quality
of butane extracts is the level of refinement during manufacturing of the butane
gas. Without lab testing, it is difficult to know the levels of butane residue left in
each batch of butane extracted hash oil. Without proper research, it is impossible
to say for sure what health concerns come with butane hash oil. As it stands
now, the only way to determine the toxin residue level in butane extracted hash
oil is to lab test each batch of for toxic residue. If we understand what we are
working with, we can begin to understand what safety concerns are present.

50

Hash Oil (C02 extraction): Using carbon dioxide to extract cannabinoids
from a cannabis plant may be the solution to solvent residue in cannabis
extracts. While we work to understand the butane issue, C02 is already
known to be a cleaner alternative that can provide high potency numbers
like butane extraction. You may be asking yourself (or me!): why butane if
C02 may be safer? The answer: It is expensive and difficult. The equipment
needed to make C02 extracted hash oil comes with a big price tag. In the
end, many hash makers use butane because time is money, and when
you’re out of money from purchasing a C02 setup - you’re up cold creek!

Question: Are the top buds the most potent and if so how much does
the potency change on one plant?
-Carl Kirby of Denver, CO

Buckie: FSL sampled four genetic variations of cannabis, totaling
120 plants from two separate harvests. We took samples from the top,
middle, and bottom of the plant, accounting for what would be considered
appropriate care center quality. We collected over 700 samples from 120
plants and found that the buds from the top of the cannabis plant have the
potential for the highest potency, but are not always the most potent. Here is
the breakdown of our results:
Buds from the top: 22.5%-13.5% THC potency
Buds from the middle: 20.4%-13.6% THC potency
Buds from the lower portion: 17.3%-12.7% THC potency
This means the top had an average of 18% THC, mid-plant averaged 17%
THC, and the lower portion averaged 15%. To get statistical, this gave the whole
sample an average deviation of around 3.5%. These results were from properly
cultivated and cured crops. Cannabis grown under less ideal conditions may
have an average deviation of up to 8%, meaning the buds may vary up to
8% between plant sectors. We also noticed that buds observed to be more
dense were more likely to have a larger variance in potency than buds observed
to be more fluffy (less dense).

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New York is known for a lot - pizza, crowded streets, taxis, the subway, art, clubs and bars open until 4am, live music, Broadway, and a million other
things. But it seems that over the years, kush isn’t typically included on that list. California to the west, Canada to the north, and even Mexico to the
south seem to take all of the credit for good medical marijuana strains. Well a little Diesel strain that could, has come chugging along from NYC, trying
to bend some of these common stereotypes.
NYC Diesel is a fine hybrid strain of medical marijuana, commonly grown from seeds originating in the Big Apple. Like early settlers, these seeds have
naturally made their way out west. Many of the most common NY Diesel seeds originate from a cannabis seed bank called Soma Seeds. The hybrid is a
cross of Mexican Sativa & Afghani (indica), with some variations being closely related to the Sour Diesel strain. The indica/sativa balance is somewhere
right around 50/50, but can go 60/40 either way depending exactly where you get it. THC levels are certainly a bit higher than average, registering at a
percentage somewhere in the high teens. Strong, but definitely a good, manageable kind of strong.
In terms of physical characteristics, NY Diesel has a wonderful amount of orange and red hairs scattered over a light green landscape bedazzled in
shiny white trichomes, oozing with THC. It’s pretty dense and can often be real sticky, but at its best is soft and light as a pillow, smoking with a
consistent smoothness. The taste is often compared to that of sweet, ripe grapes with hints of citrus. The smell weighs more heavily on
the citrus side, sending you into a world of grapefruit and sugar coated lemons. It’s pretty easy to see that this is going to be a
good experience just from the appearance and smell alone... it satisfies all of the necessary senses quite nicely.
The buzz is just about perfect, somewhere in the middle of passing out on the couch with two pounds of
munchies and finding the inspiration to clean the house, make an ambitious to-do list, and wash the car.
With a typical amount of ingested THC, it should last around 90-120 minutes. It’s a really good daytime
buzz, with a cerebral quality fit for solving problems and being productive at a relaxed, manageable
pace. Also works pretty well for being social, rather than one of those kush strains that makes you
want to shut off your phone, curl up with a movie, and just enjoy your own company. This can
easily lead to one of those highly talkative and insightful highs where you wish you’d taken
notes on all your great ideas the next day. Strong bouts of giggle fits are also not uncommon.
In New York, it’s not quite as easy to obtain a gram or eighth of weed as it is in states
where medical marijuana is legal. When I visited the city a few months ago, my
friend told me about his selection and process to obtain. While many names
were the same as what I can find at my dispensary, he was paying more
than double my price and delivery was the most common method
of getting it. His plights made me 110% more grateful of being in
one of the pot-friendly states. In Colorado, an eighth of NYC Diesel
should not run much more that $50-$60, and seeds are relatively
easy to find. If taking the ambitious and botanical growing route,
you’re probably making a good call. Yield is said to be particularly
high, with a flowering period around 9-10 weeks.
Rightfully so, NYC Diesel is no stranger to awards. It has long
been a favorite amongst avid smokers in Amsterdam, and the
Soma seeds have placed in the Cannabis Cup 3 times (2001, 2003,
2004). I suggest you get a little taste of New York in your diet, and
considering the hassle and cost of travel these days, why not just
dabble in NY Diesel kush? Be sure to pick this up and sample
where it’s available. Chances are you’ll be going back for more.

The buzz is
just about
perfect...

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Holiday
ng
Volunteeri

By Charlotte Cruz

P

eople volunteer
for a number of reasons,
among them being:
Achievement-- You feel
like you did something
good from beginning to
end.
You didn’t just think about it, you did it. Sense of
Belonging --You found a way to be with like-minded
people and serve together for the greater good. Social and
Community Change—You do want to be the change in
the world and you have taken a step toward making this
world a little bit better. Maybe you don’t know why you
volunteer or why you should, but the fact is, it can only
be and do good and that’s what the season of giving is all
about, not iPads or video games.
Every nonprofit relies heavily on volunteerism to stay up
and running. Since most people start feeling that this is
the time of year to get out there and do some good, this
may be the one time of year where your help is needed
in a more non-traditional way than working in a soup
kitchen or donating to toys for tots. Some volunteers at
the holidays actually find themselves bored with little to
do since so many people extend themselves to the needy,
so this year, try to do some research on local organizations
that can use your time wisely.
Senior Centers are a great place to give some time and
attention to the elderly. Many people in nursing homes

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Give a
little,
get a
lot!

or elderly care facilities are without family nearby and a
friendly face can brighten the day of someone who may
find themselves lonely this season. The holidays are a
time for togetherness and not everyone has the luxury or
means to be near their loved ones.
Children and adults alike in literacy programs all over the
nation need support. If you are bilingual, volunteering at
an ESL nonprofit can make a tremendous difference in
the life of someone trying to learn English. Even if you
are not bilingual, children who are having a hard time
reading benefit tremendously from one-on-one tutoring.
Or check with your local library to find out about holiday
programs that you can become involved in. Reading
Twas the Night Before Christmas to a group of smiling
Kindergartners is an amazing way to spend an afternoon.
Check with your local food bank to find out when you can
lend a hand.

Food banks help provide
not just holiday meals, but food
year round for the hungry and the
operations are always looking for
people to help pack and repack
food.

The food bank is a place where you know that what you
are doing is really helping someone and their family and
hopefully you will find your time there so rewarding
that you continue service after the holidays are over. No
matter what you do to give back this year, no mater how
small your donation or scarce your free time is, it is the
season to be grateful for what you have and do something
selfless for someone less fortunate. Happy holidays to you
and your family. May the new year bring you health
and happiness.

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come to our kushcon
booth and get a
coupon for a free 1/8th

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This Holiday, harm reduction is in.
It’s a school of psychology and sociology that assumes rational
adults are going to sometimes engage in risky, unhealthy behavior. Harm Reductionists believe teaching people to reduce the
harm of their behavior is as valid an approach if not a more valid
approach that simply banning and criminalizing certain behaviors.
With more than 300,000 qualified medical cannabis patients in
California alone, and Arizona becoming the 15th medical marijuana state, there’s a huge demand for safer, more sustainable
ways of medicinal cannabis delivery, and the market is meeting
that demand head on.
Fold A Bowl Pipe

RAW Rolling Papers
Organic, vegan, and sustainable has come
to rolling papers. Normal rolling papers can
contain unneeded chemicals and flavors.
Sodium, potassium and magnesium are used
as accelerants and papers are often bleached
white. The Raw brand of rolling papers came
out of Spain to awe the market this year with
an additive and bleach-free rolling paper
that’s thin, and translucent, holds fast with a
natural hemp-based gum, and burns clean
with no taste. The Raw King Size comes with
forty, 1 1/4-inch wide, unbleached hemp
fiber papers packaged so artfully, they don’t
even have a crease, the culmination of twelve
years of research, RAW says. $2.50

Space Case Grinder

Tightvac Container
Keeping cannabis in plastic bags is actually
a no-no. THC is an acid, which means it
breaks down soft plastic like sandwich bags,
causing leaching of petrochemicals into the
plant matter. Best stick to glass containers,
Pyrex jars, or the popular Tightvac line of
vacuum sealed, super-hard plastic containers. , Tightvac jars have a button on the
top of them and you need to squeeze the
release button to pull the top off. Fill up
the Tightvac, and when the top is pushed
back down, the jar sucks out air, creating a
vacuum seal that’s smell-proof, air tight and
highly water resistant. Tightvac containers
come in a range of colors and sizes – from
tiny, pocket containers, all the way up to
bread loaf-sized. Based out of Venice, CA.
Tightvac Minivac TV-1 (.12 liter; 2 7/8-inches tall)\ $8.25

There’s nothing safe or sane about flying with
medical marijuana and supplies. Fold-A-Bowl
makes the practice a little safer with its line
of disposable, foldable stainless steel pipes.
Each Fold-A-Bowl is the size of a credit card,
and comes with a tiny instruction sheet,
explaining how to fold the stamped, medicalgrade steel into a palm-sized smoking utensil.
No need to buy cheap paraphernalia in shady
parts of a strange town. And no regrets about
tossing a low-cost Fold-A-Bowl before a
return flight home. $4.95 for Four

Hempwicks
It’s always surprising to see hard-core foodies, environmentalists or health nuts using
a standard butane lighter to do anything, let
alone ignite plant matter going directly into
the lungs. Lighters run on butane, and contain
sulfur and flint, which are highly poisonous if inhaled. Long-term butane exposure
causes internal organ and nervous system
problems. Made from hemp and bees wax,
the Hempwick has emerged as a substitute. A
six inch-long piece of thin twine, you light the
Hempwick and then use the strong, cleanburning wick flame to combust medicinals.
Made from Sacramento company Ital, they’re
waterproof and work well even in the wind.
$1.25 per pack

Grinders have emerged as the most effective
way to create more surface area out of buds,
mandatory for vaporizing, and quite effective
for rolling or packing in a pipe. But not all
grinders are created equal. Shoddily made,
imported metal grinders can grind away at
themselves, creating tiny metallic shavings
in herb, and that’s not very medicinal. Space
Case makes a top of the shelf, two-piece
grinder, precision machined from high-quality
aerospace aluminum, with super sharp cutting edges that will not dull. The large 3 1/4inch wide grinder goes for $49.61
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CAREGiVERS FOR LiFE

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in
ity
By THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA ASSISTANCE PROGRAM OF THE ROCKIES (MMAPR)

Gregory, a medical marijuana patient has felt his fair
share of pain. After several car accidents — one in 1979 in which
his vehicle was crushed by three other cars — Gregory was left with
severe chronic back pain. The 58-year-old medical marijuana patient,
who requested anonymity because of the negative social stigma still
associated with marijuana, found himself in “excruciating” pain with
few options for relief.
With the help of a recently launched, patient focused
advocacy group based in Denver, Gregory was able to significantly
reduce the cost of his medical marijuana and start to live again -- but
not before traveling to hell and back.
Gregory’s back would lock up on him due to sciatic nerve
pain that traveled from his back down the back of his leg. Doctors
ran test after test, including one that involved injections around his
spine. “I wasn’t getting any relief for the pain, and we weren’t getting
any closer to what was wrong,” recalls Gregory.
Doctors tried three dangerous surgeries to repair his back,
without success. In fact, Gregory was left in worse pain after these
medical procedures. The answer, according to doctors, was to pump
Gregory full of addictive pain relief medication. He found himself
hooked on a laundry list of medications —including Percocet,
Oxycontin, morphine, methadone and fentanyl, just to name a few.
Gregory eventually stopped eating. He found himself going
through withdrawals for months at a time in order to purge the
effects of these prescribed toxins. Over the course of several months,
Gregory dropped from 174 pounds to a mere 139 pounds. There
were days when all he consumed was coffee and bread. “Days would
go by and I’d forget that I hadn’t eaten,” said Gregory.
He heard that marijuana might help him to regain his
appetite. All Gregory wanted was to be able to sit down to a meal
and put food in his mouth without having to run to the bathroom to
vomit. He began exploring the possibilities that cannabis could be
used to alleviate his pain as well as his lack of appetite.
What Gregory learned, he says, was no short of a “miracle.” Cannabis
helped him not only to eat again, but also to enjoy life again. “I

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immediately noticed the difference,” he said. “I was eating again, and
I was feeling better.”
With the passing of Colorado’s Amendment 20, Gregory
could finally gain access to medical cannabis without skirting the
law. Gregory went to his doctor and requested a medical marijuana
evaluation. His physician was well versed in the values of medical
cannabis, and he provided Gregory the recommendation he needed.
However, he had an entirely other problem to deal with — money.
Living on a fixed income due to his disability, Gregory had little
resources to afford the cost of his medical cannabis.
At the same time Gregory was struggling to choose between
his groceries, rent and medicine, a new organization was forming to
address issues patients such as Gregory were faced with. That’s when
he had learned about the Medical Marijuana Assistance Program
of the Rockies (MMAPR) at a convention held in Aspen this past
Spring. There he learned he was eligible for discounted medical
marijuana rates through MMAPR’s Traditional Medicine Preferred
Provider Organization (TM-PPO). Through this program, Gregory
had qualified for a discount of 40 percent off his medicine and future
doctor visits. With the help of MMAPR, Gregory wasn’t left to
choose between his medicine, rent, and food, and he is currently able
to save a few dollars each month for unexpected emergencies.
Vincent Palazzotto, MMAPR’s Executive Director, says
helping patients like Gregory is the focus of his foundation’s mission.
“That’s why we’re here,” he says. “All patients, regardless of economic
status, should have access to affordable traditional based medicine
and treatments throughout our country. If we’re not in it for the
patients, then we shouldn’t be here at all. “ Gregory is thankful
for MMAPR’s support. He is happy to report that his weight has
rebounded, and he is living a life focused on wellness and healing,
rather than one of constant pain and suffering. “Without MMAPR
I wouldn’t be able to afford my medication. At this stage, it’s such a
great help!”
For more information, please visit www.MMAPR.org or call
303-386-4001.

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The NO2 Vaporizer by Vapir, Inc. is the new face of vaporizing. The typical
issues associated with vaporizers—the bulkiness, lack of portability, and size of
the large vaporizers of old that needed to be plugged into a wall—are no more.
Portability is the new word in the vaporizing industry, and the NO2 is leading
the way. As Frank Bartscheck, Vice President of Vapir, Inc. says, what people
want most is “portability and ease.” And this new vaporizer is all about portability and ease.
The inception of the idea for this vaporizer lies in the desire to rid the vaporizer
of the aforementioned stigmas that have plagued its popularity. Even modern,
more portable vaporizers still encounters some of these problems: they are often confusing to use and, even though they do not have to be tethered to a wall,
their battery lives are rather lackluster.
The NO2 fixes all of these issues: you simply push the power button, set the
temperature with the digital scale, load the herb of your choice, and start to
vaporize. The device will even remember your favorite temperature setting.
Another aspect of the NO2 that really sets it apart from the crowd is its rechargeable battery. You can charge the battery while using the device, and even
“charge the battery on the go without draining the battery with the cigarette/
lighter adapter in your car, RV boat, etc.” The company also sells additional
replacement batteries, ensuring that your device is never without power.
The NO2 makes the previous drawbacks of the vaporizer non-existent, allowing the positive health effects of vaporizing instead of smoking to be more
accessible than ever. As Bartscheck points out, while using a vaporizer “you
are minimizing the intake of carbon monoxide and tars which are the negative
side effects typically associated with smoking.” For this simple reason alone,
vaporizing is a significantly safer way to receive the effects of marijuana without the inhalation of dangerous carcinogens. Vaporizers have also been shown
to extract THC more effectively from the plant than by lighting it on fire.
Bartscheck also points out that because the NO2 does not use a butane heating
element to heat the herb of your choice, the natural flavor of the herb is preserved, allowing you to “enjoy the actual flavor” of the herb.
At $179, the NO2 vaporizer is a serious advancement in the modern, digital
vaporizing age. The NO2 is portable, affordable, compact, and provides the safest way to enjoy your medical marijuana or other herb of choice.

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WITH SO MUCH GOING ON IN DECEMBER, KUSH would like
to remind you how far we’ve come in our battle to legalize
Marijuana. With 73+ years between its inception and today’s
liberal standard (in comparison) we take a look back at the
very significant Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. This December
power play had deep implications then, and they are still
rippling into the news of the day.
IT WAS DECEMBER OF 1937, and not much different from
today’s standard practices, there were political parties in favor
of one issue over another, inherently propelled by some other
issue within some other industry, that happened to have their
hand (or tentacle) in the reach of a convincing politician. Case
in point, the DuPont family and their desire to curb the booming
Hemp Industry. With hemp being used as a cheaper substitute
for paper pulp, Randolph Hearst felt it a threat to his extensive
timber holdings, while Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon
was protecting his huge personal investment into DuPont
stock, and its latest product “nylon”. With Hemp out-performing
these common and innovative products, big business turned
its cheek on rational thinking, and proposed the Marihuana
Tax Act of 1937, essentially enforcing certain provisions on the
use or possession of Marijuana or Hemp, forcing the need for
a “tax stamp” to grow, or distribute Marijuana. Although the
tax was only equal to $1 for anyone dealing commercially in
Cannabis, Hemp, or Marijuana, the Act did not criminalize the
possession or usage of Cannabis, Hemp or Marijuana, (while
the provisions were enforced for those handling the products.)
Violations of these procedures had penalties up to $2000,
and five years imprisonment. That was a lot back then, and it
was all the control the government needed, at least for a few
decades...

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IN 1969, LEARY VS. UNITED STATES PROVED part of the Act
to be unconstitutional as a violation of the Fifth Amendment,
since a person seeking a tax stamp would have to incriminate
him or herself in doing so. In response the Congress passed the
Controlled Substance Act in 1970. Leave it to big government
to merely re-write a flawed law, putting the clamp down even
tighter in the revision. This has historically proven to be “The
American Way” - Love it or leave it!

With Hemp out-performing these
common and innovative products,
big business turned its cheek on
rational thinking, and proposed the
Marihuana Tax Act of 1937
SO AS YOU ENJOY YOUR EGGNOG and holiday festivities,
let’s keep the focus on the future, and hope that we as a
people are learning from the past, and can make future laws
based on fact and rational, not that of political arm-twisting or
back-scratching.

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Q: Rob, I am a legal grower of medical marijuana
who was just victimized by burglars who stole my
medicine. Should I call the cops about my crops?
~ B.J., DENVER

A: B.J., I HAVE HAd MAnY ClIEnts in this position,
and let me say this is one of the most difficult decisions that a grower can face in
this uncertain environment surrounding medical marijuana, and compounding
the difficulty is the fact that the decision should be made as soon as possible
after discovering the crime against you.
First and foremost, the answer is dependent on the individual circumstances of
your situation. If you were growing in violation of the law and that violation can
be proved if police investigate, then unless there is bodily injury or other more
serious crime for which you need police protection immediately, it might not
be a good idea to make a bad situation worse by adding criminal charges
on yourself on top of the theft you just suffered.
But let’s say there is no doubt, in your mind, you are operating
legally. i.e., are growing only medically-necessary amounts
of medicine, there is no evidence of any non-medical
use or distribution, you were not endangering any
other person, and you have appropriate paperwork
to justify the amounts you possessed. (Assuming
the criminals did not steal your patient medical
paperwork as well. Hopefully you kept backup
copies somewhere safe.)
In that event, it is still a difficult decision.
Empirical experience does not help us. Some
burglary victims report the case, police
follow up promptly, catch the perpetrator,
and it is a success all around. Some lessfortunate victims report the case, then
deal with two hours of interrogation
from police, then even potential
criminal charges themselves, while
the burglar gets away. Medical
Marijuana is, of course, legal
in Colorado and protected as
a constitutional right. But
not all police officers
equally respect all
parts of the State
Constitution.

Police officers are human beings and are no better, or no worse, than the rest
of us. They have personal biases and attitudes, and sometimes these biases
and attitudes seep through into their professional activities and prioritization
decisions. Many police have been trained in “Reefer Madness” dogma, while
some can transcend this antiquated thinking after spending years on the beat
and realizing marijuana is nothing to fear. Medical Marijuana is still regarded
as a “fringe” business even here in Compassionate Colorado. In a perfect world,
theft of Medical Marijuana would be no different than theft of dangerous
narcotic prescription drugs like Oxycontin; you report the theft, show the
officer your prescription, the case is investigated.
But this is not a perfect world. Marijuana, even the medical variety, is still illegal
in a majority of states, and the federal government still acts as though it has
the power to prohibit it, even though the President of the United States says
otherwise. In practical terms, Medical Marijuana patients and caregivers are
still frequently treated as second-class citizens. We very often do not get the
same protection from authorities that other citizens receive. Many government
officials have reversed the presumption of innocence as to Medical Marijuana. If
you have marijuana, you are “guilty” until you can prove otherwise. As evidence
that patients and caregivers do not get the same police protection as the rest of
the world, some advocates cite the case of Ken Gorman, a marijuana activist
murdered in his Denver home where he served as a caregiver. Although police
are not required to share the progress of a pending investigation, the trail in
this case must now be as cold as the February 2007 night the murder happened.
If you do make the decision to report the crime, it is probably best to do so as
quickly as possible. If you have no suspects, solving any burglary case is difficult
for police. They would rather follow hot leads than a cold trail. If you do have
suspects, your temptation would be to “solve” the case yourself without police
involvement. That can be dangerous. If you do have suspects and you know
where they might have taken your medicine, that would suggest even greater
reason for police involvement.
And if you make the decision to not report the crime, it is best to stick with that
decision rather than change your mind days later. There is no legal requirement
that you report crimes against you. It is your option. However, a delay of even
a day will raise police suspicion against you, and will make the crime far less
likely to be solved.
Someday, in a better world, this will be a rare occurrence. On a philosophical
level, it seems clear that this quasi-Prohibition we still have, even in Colorado,
creates the crime in the first place. The government War on Marijuana drives
marijuana underground, and makes us more vulnerable to criminals. If
marijuana were fully legalized, the price would decline, along with incentive
for theft. As an example, does anybody break into your home to steal tomatoes
from your refrigerator? If tomatoes were illegal, you could bank on it!
Robert J. Corry, Jr. is an Attorney licensed to practice in Colorado, California, and the
District of Columbia. This column does not constitute formal legal advice, and should
not relied upon as such. Please submit comments or questions to www.RobCorry.com.

Limited space CALL 720-855-6337 NOW
to reserve your ticket!
$99
reserved
tickets
while
they
last!
Includes Refreshments, Hors d'oeuvres & Product Coupons - Tickets at the door are $120
Live Glass-Blowing, HUGE Growing Equipment and Pipe Sale On-Site
Mingle with Counter-Culture Heros including ED ROSENTHAL HIMSELF!
All levels of growing experience and
all MMC’s are encouraged to attend this industry event!

CALL NOW! 720-855-6337
Event held at 5070 Federal Blvd 80221 Denver

Colorado’s oldest & most trusted mmj directoy

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Internal Revenue Code Section 280E disallows legitimate business
expenses that are incurred in a trade or business of trafficking in
controlled substances. Cannabis, or marijuana, continues to be treated
as a controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act passed in
1970, a federal law, even though 14 states and the District of Columbia
so far have passed legislation legalizing the dispensing of cannabis
for medical purposes. In addition to those states, another 17 states
recognize the medical value of cannabis, some of which are considering
legislation to allow dispensaries (according to Marijuana Policy Project,
a non-profit policy think-tank). The Internal Revenue Code has not
yet been amended to recognize the legitimacy of medical cannabis
dispensaries. Until the tax code gets corrected, tax and accounting
professionals must continue to reduce their deductions by the portion
that is deemed attributable to “trafficking” in cannabis.
This article explains how to make the calculation so as to minimize
the portion of the business expenses that are non-deductible. This
approach utilizes the principals outlined in Californians Helping to
Alleviate Medical Problems v. Commissioner, 128 T.C. No. 14, wherein
the court sanctioned the bifurcation of expenses between those
attributable to trafficking and those that are not.
The Theory in Support of the
Calculation
Medical cannabis dispensaries provide many different services to their
patients. Examples of such services include acupuncture, nutritional
training and advice, chiropractic services, and pain management
treatments. The IRS has acknowledged that these services are
completely outside the scope of Section 280E, and therefore expenses
related to these services are completely deductible, pursuant to the
approach allowed by the Tax Court in the case cited above.
Patients seek advice from dispensary personnel on aspects related to the
different strains and forms of medicinal cannabis. They want to know
which strains may be high in CBDs (cannabinoids), which strains are
better for improving appetite, which strains are better for improving
sleep, etc. Additionally, they need advice regarding which form may
be best suited to their medical need; should they use concentrates,

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tinctures, edibles, or salves. When dispensary personnel provide this
advice, they are providing medical advice, they are not engaging in
“trafficking.”
In Californians Helping to Alleviate Medical Problems v. Commissioner,
128 T.C. No. 14, the Tax Court noted that the gerund “trafficking”
should be referenced to the verb “traffic” which denotes “to engage in
commercial activity: buy and sell regularly.” Therefore, “trafficking”
does not include the provision of medical advice. In the context of a
medical cannabis dispensary, it should only include the consummation
of the actual financial transaction. Informal studies have shown that,
of the total amount of time the typical patients spends at the dispensary
counter, less than 25% of that time is spent consummating the financial
transaction, i.e., swiping their credit card or handling money. This
percentage is what I call the “Transactional Factor.”
Three Steps to Making a 280E
Calculation
Making a 280E calculation is a three-step process. First, allocate all
occupancy costs between Retail (this term is used herein to denote
those operations, a portion of which would ordinarily be considered
“trafficking” as this term is used in Section 280E) and Non-Retail
operations. Second, make the same allocation for all payroll-related
costs. Third, apply the “Transactional Factor.”
To allocate occupancy costs, measure the square footage of the Retail
space. This will typically be the space around the sales counter. Using
this number in the numerator, and total square footage of the entire
facility in the denominator, apply this fraction to all occupancy costs,
such as rent, depreciation and liability insurance.
For example, Oakland Dispensers operates a 3,000 square foot facility.
Their CPA measured the square footage around the sales counter to
be 600 square feet. This results in a Retail occupancy fraction of 20%
(600/3,000). Oakland Dispensers had paid $80,000 in rent, $10,000
in liability insurance, and had depreciation expenses of $60,000 for
the year. As a result, their total occupancy costs related to Retail was
$30,000 (=20% of ($80,000 +$10,000+ $60,000)).

To allocate payroll costs, determine the total amount of payroll paid
to those personnel who work in Retail behind the sales counter.
Using this number in the numerator and total payroll for the year in
the denominator, apply this fraction to all payroll related costs, such
as payroll, employer portion of payroll taxes, health and retirement
benefits, and workers’ compensation insurance.
Continuing the same example, Oakland Dispensers had paid
$1,000,000 in total payroll to all employees for the year. Of
this amount, $310,000 was paid to employees working Retail
behind the sales counter. This results in a payroll fraction of 31%
($310,000/$1,000,000). Oakland Dispensers had incurred, in
addition to payroll, employer payroll taxes of $175,000, health
insurance premiums for employees of $120,000 and workers’
compensation insurance premiums of $30,000. As a result, their
total payroll costs related to Retail was $410,750 (=31% of ($1,000,
000+$175,000+$120,000+$30,000)).
The third and final step is to apply the Transactional Factor. Because
different dispensaries may serve different patients with different
needs for advice, you should take a sample and, using a stop watch,
time the portion of the total patient meeting time that is devoted to
consummating only the financial aspect of the meeting. This is the time
spent swiping the credit card and signing the sales slip, or alternatively
counting the money tendered and counting the change received. Make
sure you do this for enough patient visits to make your sample valid.
The CPA for Oakland Dispensers timed the meetings of 10 typical
patient visits and determined that, on average, approximately 18%
of the total patient visit time was spent consummating the financial
aspects of the transaction. Because the occupancy costs related
to Retail was $30,000 and the payroll costs related to Retail was
$410,750 (see above), the total IRC Section 280E adjustment was
calculated to be $79,335 (=18% of ($30,000+$410,750)). This 280E
adjustment represents only 5.4% of all costs incurred “below the
line” for Oakland Dispensers.
This three step approach to calculating the Section 280E adjustment
generally results in a small non-deductible portion.

Under IRS Audit Examination
The IRS might attempt to question or challenge this approach. Stick
to your guns! The practitioner is advised to hold fast to the position.
IRC Section 280E was never intended to apply to medical cannabis
dispensaries. The legislative history makes it clear that it was intended
to thwart illegal drug dealers based upon public policy grounds. Because
public opinion has changed with respect to the medical use of cannabis,
the application of Section 280E to legally operating cannabis dispensaries
is shaky, at best. The practitioner is advised to go to appeals. If the IRS
persists even in appeals, the practitioner should advise the client to pay
the tax and sue for a refund in federal court, as their chances with a jury
(with respect to this issue at least) are better than with the Tax Court.
State Tax Treatment of IRC Section 280E

For those states that allow cannabis to be dispensed legally for medical
purposes, IRC Section 280E should not apply. In theory, there should
be no Section 280E non-deductible adjustment, and it is reasonable to
expect a federal-to-state tax difference, allowing the deduction of all
business expenses for state income tax purposes.
However, most states simply conform to federal law; they reference
federal law rather than enact their own set of income tax laws. Section
280E references trafficking in controlled substances….”which is
prohibited by Federal law or the law of any State in which such trade or
business is conducted.” Is it possible that any state income tax authority
of a state that has enacted medical cannabis legislation would attempt
to apply Section 280E anyway, simply because of this technical law
construct? That would be unreasonable! It is not yet clear whether
this could be corrected administratively or whether a state legislative
correction would be required. In any event, the practitioner is advised
not to make a Section 280E adjustment for state income tax purposes.
Author bio: Luigi Zamarra, CPA is the Chief Financial Officer of
Harborside Health Center, recognized as one of the largest medical cannabis dispensaries
in the United States. He has a BS in Commerce and an MS in Accounting from the
University of Virginia. He worked with the Big 4 accounting firms for twelve years,
rising to the position of Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, before starting to work with
regional businesses as a public accountant in San Francisco. Luigi now lives and works
in Oakland, CA. He can be reached at luigi.zamarra@harborsidehealthcenter.com.

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Sometimes I think Cannabis plants keep better track of time than some of us
do. Their internal clock measures the length of the night (or dark period for indoor
growers) in order for the plants to know when they should start to produce flowers
during the season. Indoors, growers use a lighting timer to simulate the short
days of fall and give their plants 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. This
ratio of light to dark is called the “photoperiod”. Proper control over a garden’s
photoperiod is crucial to its success. While most new growers have heard that
their lights need to be on for 12 hours and off for 12 hours in order to produce
buds, few of them understand why or how the process works. Many growers
don’t appreciate how sensitive photoperiod is. The tiniest bit of light during the
dark cycle – even for a moment – can disturb the garden’s photoperiod and cause
irregular hormone patterns in the plant. These disturbances can induce male
flowers in sinsemilla crops and seed the garden. A few cheap but important tools
can allow growers to keep a more consistent, reliable photoperiod while still being
able to work in the garden during the dark period. By understanding photoperiod
and some simple techniques to manipulate it, growers can better control their
gardens and avoid simple but devastating mistakes.
Growing Cannabis involves two basic stages – the vegetative stage, or veg,
and the flowering stage. Because Cannabis growers have absolute control over
when the plants begin their flowering stage, plants can be induced to produce
buds when they are still small cuttings (each one may produce a few grams to an
ounce), or kept in a vegetative stage for years (as is sometimes the case with
keeping mother stock). Most plants grown for medicine are kept in a vegetative
stage for a few weeks to a few months before the grower initiates flowering.

THE VEGETATIVE DEBATE
There are two basic Vegetative photoperiods. There’s the “24 hour” photoperiod
– which means the lights are simply left on 24 hours per day or the “18 and 6”
photoperiod where the lights are left on for 18 hours and left off for 6 hours. So
long as the lights are on at least 18 hours, Cannabis will not flower (rare exceptions
apply – perhaps 1 in every few hundred varieties of Cannabis will flower if given
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any regular dark period, but most will not.) The Cannabis growing community has
been forever divided on which photoperiod is the “best” for vegging plants. The
18/6 regimen has been widely popular ever since General Hydroponics included it
in the basic instructions given on their nutrients many years ago. These growers
frequently say that it is “unnatural” for plants to have only sun and no night. The
other half of the growing population just leaves the lights on 24 hours per day for
vegetative growth. Now, there’s no wrong answer here since both photoperiods
keep plants in the vegetative stage, but I typically side with the 24 hour crowd
since the plants do grow proportionally faster with the extra light. The amount of
electricity is the same overall, but other fixed overhead costs like rent cost more
the more days you stay in a vegetative state. Overall vegetative times for the crop
when given 18 hours of light are typically several days longer than on a 24 hour
photoperiod. I’ve never seen any stress caused by a 24 hour photoperiod and it’s
worth pointing out that there are places on earth where at certain times of year the
days are 24 hours long. Plants grow in Alaska quite well despite the short season
because of the extra light.
The only reason to give the plants a small increment of regular darkness
during veg is to create a temperature differential in the room. (Lights left on
constantly can sometimes make the growing area a constant warm temperature
as well which can favor many plant diseases including mildew. If the grower
has proper controls in place for pathogens, it’s usually not a problem. But if the
grower has a problem, a change in temperature of 10 - 30 degrees each day can
make the environment less comfortable for the pathogen, while not posing any
harm to the plants.) A few hours of darkness timed at the coldest part of the
day – usually the few hours before dawn – can give a nice temperature differential.

DON’T FUSS WITH 12/12
There may be some debate as far as vegetative photoperiods, but there is no
debate about 12/12. Over the years, a few growers have asserted that manipulating
the crop with a photoperiod other than 12/12 can be useful. I have never seen
that to be true. In situations where a grower is coming up on the end of a lease

and absolutely has to finish their crop early, they sometimes decrease the light and
increase the darkness to finish the crop sooner. This always leads to a proportional
loss of yield and can also diminish quality in many varieties if they ripen up before
the floral clusters become sufficiently developed. Often, the weight and quality
of the flowers is better if they are simply harvested early. Prematurely harvested
Cannabis might not be ideal in looks, but usually has a clearer, more uplifting high
than full term crops. It might not be as bad if the crop began with a slightly
different ratio like 11 hours on and 13 hours off, but changing the timer mid-crop
is almost always trouble. The 12/12 photoperiod is a universal standard for very
good reason – stick with it for the best results.

SO HOW DOES DARKNESS MAKE FLOWERS?
The hormone that makes Cannabis flower has been referred to as “Florigen”,
although the specific compound has yet to be isolated and identified (perhaps due
to a lack of research on this particular plant species). The important aspect of this
hormone that we do know is that it is “photosensitive” – that means it breaks apart
whenever light hits it. When the lights go out in your garden, these photosensitive
hormones start assembling themselves at a predictable rate. It is this buildup of
hormones that signals the plant to flower. When the hormones accumulate to a
certain critical point – the plant knows the days have become short enough to
indicate the onset of fall. It’s like a timer that goes off after a certain length of time.
Because the plant is carefully measuring the length of the night with light-sensitive
hormones, any amount of light during the dark period will “reset the timer” at zero
and the process of hormones building up will have to start again. Inexperienced
growers will sometimes intrude on their grow room “just for a second” to either
check on the plants or retrieve a pH meter, etc. By “disturbing” the photoperiod
like this, the grower can cause the plants to produce unwanted male flowers.

GREEN LIGHT INVISIBILITY
Growers can use green lights to see inside dark grow rooms without disturbing
the plants. However, the space outside the door of the grow room must be
completely dark or only lit with green light when the door opens. Some growers
build small enclosures around the door of their rooms in order to keep light out.
There are many different ways of supplying green light. One of the cheapest and
easiest is a green CFL (compact fluorescent) bulb attached to any standard fixture
like a drop-light. They’re widely available at many hardware stores and the bulb
uses green glass to filter the light. Avoid the traditional incandescent style “party
bulbs” – they are coated with a very thin layer of green material that can peel off
over time and allow white light out. Hydroponic stores also carry a wide variety of
novel green lights for growers. There are green light headlamps as well as green
lights that can be worn over the ear or clipped to the bill of a baseball cap. There
are also “flashlight” applications for smart phones that allow the screen to be
changed to a bright but completely green screen if you need a green light in a pinch.
The reason green light doesn’t disturb photoperiod is because the plants
themselves are green. When something is a certain color, it is that color
because it’s reflecting only that color of the spectrum. White light has all the
colors and many of them such as the red and blue spectrums are absorbed by
plants. But the plant appears green to us because it is reflecting the green
portion of the spectrum back at us. In essence, green light is invisible to
plants and simply bounces off the plant without being absorbed. So if a green
light turns on in an otherwise totally dark grow room, the plants still believe it’s
dark since they can’t see that part of the spectrum. The major benefit here is
that growers can safely manage their flowering garden during the dark cycle.
Spraying safe pest controls in the garden can also be done during the dark
period to avoid having the plants wet when the lights are on (a big no-no).

SOMETIMES DISTURBING THE PHOTOPERIOD CAN BE A GOOD THING
There are a few situations when growers can use the extreme light sensitivity
of flowering hormones to their advantage. For instance, greenhouse growers that
grow during the winter can keep their plants in the vegetative stage despite the
days being so short that they would otherwise flower. One small light left on in
the greenhouse can keep the plants from flowering long enough to reach the
desired vegetative size. Once the plants are large enough to flower, the light can
be removed. Also, there is a common growing situation called a “two-stage” garden
which refers to having two flowering rooms on the same electrical panel. The 12
and 12 cycles are set opposite of each other, so that only one room at a time can
have the lights on. A few minutes after one room turns off, the other room turns
on. This is done in situations where the grower has more space than electricity – a
common situation in older houses that are spacious but have a smaller, outdated
electrical panel. The problem the grower faces is that they cannot put the lights in
either room on a vegetative photoperiod. However, a single light bulb hung in the
center of the room will allow the grower to veg despite the main lighting system
staying on a 12/12 flowering photoperiod. In this situation, the grower could
simply switch a regular light bulb out with a green bulb when they induce flowering
to use the same fixture for both vegging and flowering.

TIMER TIPS THAT CAN SAVE YOUR GARDEN
If you’re using a timer for lighting control in a garden – it must have a backup
battery. If it doesn’t, your garden could suffer serious damage from something as
simple as a power outage messing up your photoperiod. Pump timers and timers
for other garden equipment are usually ok without a backup battery, but the timer
that controls your lights has to have a secondary power source. Some timers come
with an internal rechargeable battery. Others have a removable battery. Recently,
a grower brought a timer to my attention that actually has both types of backup
batteries. Available at regular hardware stores, the Stanley brand TimerMax
OutdoorPro is a 15A digital timer with dual battery backup. There are also many
types of battery backup units made for computers that will work with simple timers
as well.
Also, use lighting control boxes in multi-light gardens in order to keep all the
lights on the same timer. Sometimes growers will have several lights all running
on separate timers, which greatly increases the chances of one of them staying on
when it shouldn’t. I’ve been surprised several times over the years by how little
adjustments – even 10 or 20 minutes one way or the other on a timer can confuse
sensitive varieties of Cannabis. Some plants will flower no matter what once it
has begun to, but others keep a more exacting clock. The bottom line is that you
want your garden’s schedule to remain as stable as possible. Keep your battery
backed up timer away from places that it can get accidentally bumped. Get some
green light for nighttime trips into the garden. If you want to change your lighting
schedule, do so between crops. Don’t adjust your timer’s clock for daylight savings.
If the plants never experience any amount of photoperiod stress, they’ll direct all of
their energy and hormonal signals into producing buds. The result is a stress free
experience for both ganja and grower alike.

(Growers Grove writer Jade Kine is a former greenhouse manager for the medical
Cannabis industry with over a million plants worth of experience. He is also the
founder of CannAcademy, a trade school dedicated to horticultural training for
growers. Got a grow question for Jade? Drop him a line at JadeKine@gmail.com
Complete bio at JadeKine.com)

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are so many types of comedy
styles:

the

everyday

stuff

observational
from

George

Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld, and Chris
Rock. There’s the self-deprecating comedy of Rodney Dangerfield,
or the machine gun insults of Don Rickles. There are the physical
comics, such as Jim Carrey, John Belushi, or Conan O‘Brien. Deadpan

talents, or lack thereof. His segment entitled Web Redemptions does

comics like Steven Wright or Mitch Hedberg (another tragic loss to

just that, giving those who have sang, danced, or biffed their way into

hard drugs), or witty intellects like Woody Allen or Groucho Marx. For

our lives, a chance to redeem themselves, and they often do.

the darker side of “black” or “blue” comedy, there are many greats to
enjoy: Bill Hicks, Redd Foxx or Eddie Murphy to name a few. With so
many greats to draw from, there is only one relevant comic right now
who effectively uses a bit of everything - his name is Daniel Tosh, and
if you haven’t heard of him by now, you’re either failing “Pop Culture
101”, or your head is under a rock.
Daniel Tosh hosts a show on Comedy Central called TOSH.O that
recently toppled the Jon Stewart Show, and the Colbert Report, with
2.2 million viewers. So what if most of the viewers are college kids
playing drinking games (a shot for every “bleep” cut from Tosh’s often
vulgar, irreverent rants), or males in the 18-34 year old age bracket…
That’s who he appeals to, and it seems to be working. The show is
based around the internet, and commenting on the wacky things that
take place there. He has special exposes’ on these “non”-celebrities
that somehow gain 15 minutes of “fame” based on the number of hits
they’ve received on YouTube.com. Whether you’ve seen most of them
or not, Tosh has a gift for taking these people and highlighting their

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Tosh’s skits are another hilarious part of his show. Because it’s a
web based show, he will often combine his own graphics and bits into
the original videos, making his comedy multi faceted. Some of his stuff
can be eye, and ear popping, but his all American appeal, along with
his cardigan sweaters and casual jackets allows him to get away with a
lot - tongue in (or out) of cheek.
To get a taste of Tosh’s comedy, check out Comedy Central’s
listings, and their website at www.ComedyCentral.com/tosh.o…
His live show promises to be more
of the same. Check him out in
Denver at the Wells Fargo
Theater, 1/15/2011 at
7:30 and 10:30.

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Colorado Travel

Hill Highlight
Snowmass
By Julie Cole
You don’t have to fly into Aspen on a Lear Jet
to enjoy this
winter wonderland. As we get our ski legs back,
it’s always good
to try out different hills and Snowmass is world
class! If you can
take a full weekend or a couple of days, there’
s no need to ski
or ride at more than one mountain VVbecause
Snowmass is so
sprawling that you could spend a couple of days
exploring the
mountain.
Snowmass has 4,406 vertical feet, the most in the
country. This
winter playground has 3,132 acres of terrain, 91
trails, and 21
chairlifts so you’re in for a lot of hill and a lot of optio
ns. Snowmass
has something for every type of skier. The trails
break down to
easiest: 6%, more difficult: 50%, most difficult: 12%,
expert: 32%.
Snowboarders can call this place heaven with its
3 terrain parks
(Snowmass Park, Makaha and Lowdown), 1 super
pipe (new this
year, 22 feet high!) and 1 beginner pipe. Cross-coun
try skiers can
enjoy some of the best powder and beautiful views
in Colorado.
Snowmass Village is a quaint Swiss-like town
with countless
restaurants, bars, shopping and entertainment
options. Since it
is high season, the lodging can be pricey so if
you go and stay
the night, consider going in a group so you can
save on hotel
costs. There are several options for lodging nearb
y in the towns
of Basalt, El Jebel, Carbondale and even Glenw
ood Springs if
you don’t mind driving for 45 minutes to get to
the mountain.
Snowmass offers condo rentals and hotels, many
of which are
ski in- ski out and most offer some sort of restau
rant or rental
discounts upon arrival. Check www.snomassvillage.c
om for hotel
listings and compare rates with your favorite disco
unt travel site.
Après ski in Snowmass is full of possibilities. There
are lockers
available on the mall where you can store your
stuff and hit one
of the many hotel lobby bars that offer appetizers
and cocktails.
Live music is played on the mall along with street
performers
and other free fun. If you prefer something more
adventurous,
there are several snowcat dinner options where
you climb into
a snowcat and enjoy western cuisine in a cabin
or other remote
location.
Dining options run the gamut from cheap to outra
geous. Zeke’s
is a favorite sports bar that serves real Philly chees
esteaks, soups,
salads, burgers and sandwiches. Chef Chico serve
s up authentic
Mexican cuisine with homemade tortillas and salsas
. Après Ski25 cent wings, $1.25 Bud Drafts. Now that’s happy
hour! The
Stew Pot is also an excellent choice for food and
has become a
Snowmass institution. It’s always good, always
fresh and won’t
break the bank. And really, is there anything
better than hot,
steaming homemade stew after a day of busting
your butt on the
mountain? Well, yes, there is. A bowl of delicious
stew with a pint
of frosty beer!
Don’t miss the chance to play on one of the
country’s best
mountains because you think it’s too expensive.
If you live like
a local, are willing to drive a little way to get there
and spend the
majority of your time on the mountain, the trip
will pay for itself
in fun.

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1 kush L.A.

ts

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his past year the Colorado legislature took up the
issue of medical marijuana and the regulation of the
state’s emerging cannabis industry. Some members
of the community have intensely criticized the
new laws while others have reservedly embraced them. And some have done
both, and rightfully so. Without a doubt, several of the regulations created
and implemented by the state (as well as several localities) are needless, heavyhanded, and in some cases downright harmful for patients, businesses, and their
surrounding communities. Meanwhile, others are relatively fair and afford this
new industry the ability to establish and legitimize itself so it can in large part
continue to function.
While this give and take can – and has – been frustrating, it is important
for the cannabis community and industry to understand that this imperfect yet
functional new set of laws is characteristic of most adopted via our system of
government. Even more importantly, we must keep in mind that this is just a
starting point and that these laws are living entities that will evolve over time.
And since the evidence and reason fall entirely on our side, we are sure to see
improvements as we move forward. In fact, there are already pieces of legislation
in the works for the upcoming legislative session that would clean up the new
regulations and lend to a better functioning and more hassle-free system of
marijuana production and distribution. Should they not get introduced or if they
don’t pass this time around, there is little doubt they will come around again.
Moreover, with efforts underway to open the cannabis industry up to all adults
(as opposed to just medical patients), there will surely be more take and less give
moving forward.

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For some insight into this process we can look to the alcohol industry in
Colorado. Since the end of Prohibition this system of regulation has been
overhauled and tweaked to the point that it almost fully caters to the needs of the
public and allows for the growth of the industry. After all, it wasn’t until just the
past few years that the state finally did away with the Blue Laws that prohibited
the sale of liquor on Sundays. Yet, even despite the progress that has been made,
some booze laws still remain under consideration.
For example, as the Denver Post noted in an editorial late last month
(“Brewing up new state liquor laws”, Nov. 30):

“The new [alcohol] law is an attempt to force legislators to
deal with Colorado’s continued Prohibition-era hangover and
overhaul the state’s archaic liquor laws.”
“We would rather see beer, wine and liquor sold in Colorado in a free market
without all of the strange entanglements that have been added over the years, but
we understand there is no simple, pain-free solution to the present problem. The
out-of-date laws have created a unique environment of winners and losers for so
many years that changing it now would cause lots of upheaval. We’ve suggested
that lawmakers form a panel of stakeholders representing the various special
interests to suggest fair ways to bring liquor laws up to date.” Clearly, as booze
has become more accepted in our society, public attitudes surrounding it have
changed and the government is now being forced to react. The same will surely
hold true when it comes to marijuana, a substance far less harmful than alcohol
for users and society.
So for now, all we can do is keep fighting for the most fair and agreeable laws
and regulations possible so that at the very least we can end the damaging farce of
marijuana prohibition. In some cases we’ll win. In others, we’ll win soon enough.

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For anyone that owns a medical marijuana business, they know how exciting and turbulent the
industry has been over the last several years. In the book by F. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled,
Peck could be describing the journey dispensaries or infused products manufacturers have taken
when they opened their doors. The book starts out with, “life is difficult,” but dispensary owners
could add “especially in the medical marijuana industry.” Unable to find willing or suitable vendors
to support their businesses and burdened by state and local regulations, many owners have been left
frustrated or humiliated trying to conduct normal, everyday business dealings.
In contrast, other industries outside of medical marijuana are able to participate in trade
associations that help them operate their businesses. Over the years, trade associations have
flourished, providing support to attorneys, realtors, printers and banks. Members can take advantage
of privileges that include education, resources, and legislative assistance to ensure their interests are
properly represented in Congress. In addition, they might offer seminars on employment or discounts
for essential products and services to operate their company. They rely on their trade association for
answers to common problems faced by their peers, and present a united front when tackling larger
issues that might threaten or challenge their business. Finally, the medical cannabis industry has its
own trade group to represent their interests and allow them to rally as a legitimate economic force.
The National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) will be launched at KushCon II at the Colorado
Convention Center with a booth on the main floor.
The initial board will consist of over 20 professionals representing dispensaries, media, legal
services and other ancillary businesses. All of them are connected by cannabis, but differentiated
by their specialty. According to Executive Director, Aaron Smith, between state sanctioned medical
cannabis providers and ancillary businesses, the amount of tax revenue paid each year could reach
hundreds of millions of dollars. Smith further says, “By joining NCIA, cannabis business professionals
will be able to exert their collective strength as a unified and legitimate national industry. Our plan
is to ensure that these dynamic businesses are no longer ignored as the tremendous economic force
that they are.”
Please visit the NCIA booth at KushCon II to learn about all of the exciting opportunities this new
organization has to offer our industry.
For More Information: National Cannabis Industry Association
P.O. Box 78062 | Washington, D.C. 20013 | P: (707) 291-0076 | F: (202) 232-0442
Email: Info@TheCannabisIndustry.org | www.thecannabisindustry.org

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If you live in Denver, you’ve most likely seen the RTD busses that have “Have a Kush Day” bannered on
the side or rear of the busses. The bus banners started to appear around the Thanksgiving holiday and started
quite a stir. RTD admitted they were unaware of what “Have a Kush Day” meant and when they discovered it
referred to marijuana they were baffled. However, after determining that medical marijuana is part of the Colorado
constitution, they decided to allow the busses to run.
“Have a Kush Day” is the slogan of Kush Magazine and dailybuds.com, who is hosting the largest cannabis
lifestyle convention ever December 17 – 19th at the Colorado Convention Center. With over 300,000 square feet
KushCon II will be the largest star-studded Cannabis Lifestyle convention ever to take place in the United States,
and for that matter on the entire planet. People from all over the world are coming to this amazing event. To avoid
lines be sure to go to kushcon.com and purchase your print at home tickets. For those who want to “go green”
tickets can also be sent directly to your cell phone and will be scanned at the door.
Hundreds of vendors including hydroponics, dispensaries, clothing companies, jewelry designers, glass and pipe
accessories, edible companies, chefs, security companies, just to name some of the industries being represented,
will provide free gifts, coupons and great last minute holiday shopping for everyone. Since no medication will be on
the premises, all ages are welcome.
Grow Bot, manufacturer of state of the art grow trailers is giving away one $46,000
GrowBot 2800 all in one plug and grow hydroponic production system, a complete seed to
harvest solution. Conventioneers will be able to register for the opportunity to be the lucky winner
of this amazing Grow station.
To add more excitement, everyday at 4:20 Kush Magazine and Daily Buds will be giving
away over $100,000 of holiday presents as part of the KushCon mega giveaways celebration.
The gifts will be items you have on your Kushmas list including custom blown glass, leather
jackets, jewelry and so much more.
The Kushmas party continues with our daily concert series. Friday and Saturday
conventioneers will be treated to first class recording artists and DJ’s including Flobots, Dirty
Heads, Mickey Avalon, Asher Roth, Mix Master Mike, and Aaron Lewis of Staind. Sunday, we
bring back Old School featuring performances by the legendary War, yes the band famous for
such hits as ‘Lowrider’, ‘Cisco Kid’ and ‘Why Can’t We Be Friends’ to name a few. We are also
headlining the distinctive voice of Gregg Rolie, founder and lead singer from the Santana Band
and Journey with such hits as ‘Black Magic Woman’, ‘Evil Ways’ and ‘Oye Como Va’.
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Michael Lerner, founder of Kush Magazine and dailybuds.com states, “This is sure to outdo the
first KushCon that was held this past April where over 20,000 marijuana curious patrons attended; and
even though no marijuana was permitted on the premises, they had a wonderful experience.”
Kush Magazine will be debuting its Kush Brand clothing line that will be available at KushCon II. Starting in January,
Kush Brand clothing will also be available at local retailers, and online at dailybuds.com and http://shop.dailybuds.com
Cooking with cannabis demonstrations will be conducted by some of the biggest chefs
in the infused product industry. Scott Durrah from 8 Rivers, Lauren Gennett formerly of Mad
Batter and Rachel Welpo of Baked at Mile High will be creating infused culinary meals for
you to try at home.
Besides the unparalleled talent line up that KushCon has assembled, skateboard demos,
glassblowing, djs, and all types of entertainment will be happening each day to keep the
good times rolling. Continuous live remote broadcasts will be hosted by Jammin 101.5 and
Hot 107.1 DJs.
KushCon II is also about the dissemination of information about the marijuana culture.
There will be breakout rooms with continuous speakers from within the medical marijuana
industry and the marijuana movement. Some of the speakers slated include legendary
growing expert Ed Rosenthal. U.S. Congressman Jared Polis and Matt Cook head of
Colorado Department of Revenue who is in charge of medical marijuana enforcement will talk
about the political climate. Attorneys Rob Corry, Warren Edson, and Brian Vicente will share
their legal advice, recommendations and war stories. Medical information for patients
and others about marijuana and its uses to treat certain modalities will be presented by
Dr. Alan Shackelford and Dr. Robert (Bob) Melamede.
There will also be speakers from NORML, MPP and other non-profit organizations
from around the country.
Besides the GrowBot 2800, other prizes to be given away are Sheldon Black
glassware, Vortex Gravity Bongs, Celebration pipes, cool original Kush Brand clothing and
apparel plus a whole lot more.
The event will be cannabis free and open to the public. At the first Kushcon Lerner
said “We were happy to see a lot of parents with their kids checking out the vendors
and all of the entertainment, and just having a good time”
REMEMBER – GO TO KUSHCON.COM AND AVOID TICKET LINES. PRINT AT HOME
TICKETS OR TICKETS THAT CAN BE SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR CELL PHONE CAN BE
PURCHASED ONLINE. Also, to get KushCon II updates about the talent lineup and event
information check out www.kushcon.com.
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Trans-Siberian Orchestra

12.22.10 @ Pepsi Center (Denver)
12.23.10 @ World Arena (Colorado Springs)
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra brings it’s Winter Tour to Colorado
twice this holiday season, once in Denver and once in Colorado
Springs. The rock opera performance, conceived by Paul O’Neill, is
certainly fit for holiday inspiration. Just try and go to this show and
remain a scrooge during the coming days’ festivities.... I dare you.
As explained by O’Neill: “The original concept of Trans-Siberian
Orchestra was how to make music have the most emotional impact”.
With a discography containing mostly Christmas themed albums,
this is basically the perfect pre-Christmas event you can find. A
warm, uplifted mood filled with thoughts of candy canes and hot
chocolate will be virtually impossible to resist.
www.trans-siberian.com

Railroad Earth

12.29.10-12.31.10 @ Ogden Theater (Denver)
This Stillwater, New Jersey Americana roots jam band brings it’s
ruckus of a live show to Colorado with three nights at Ogden
Theater in Denver to close out the year of 2010. Railroad Earth’s
music is a little county, a little bluesy, and basically just good old
fashioned tunage. They boast a six-piece live outfit that jams with
pretty much everyone on vocals, electric/acoustic/bass guitars,
violin, accordion, mandolin, bouzouki, banjo, dobro, mandolin,

flute, pennywhistle, saxophones, drums, and hand percussion...
just to name a few. Formed around 2001, in recent years they’ve
lost two longtime members, and in October released their fifth,
self-titled album. End the year with some good, organic, knee
slappin’ music. www.railroadearth.com

STS9

12.29.10-12.31.10 @ Fillmore Auditorium
(Denver)
STS9, the 5-piece electronic collective from Santa Cruz, CA
claim to be “making electronic music relevant again”. While
many claim similar feats, it’s hard to say that Sound Tribe
Sector 9 isn’t doing their significant part. Seemingly conspiracy
driven in their musical motivation, STS9 describes their
sound as “post-rock dance music”. They’re well known for
their improvised live shows (do some searches on youtube)
and semi-recently (2009) released Ad Explorata, their newest
album begging you to explore and discover the unknown and
unexplored. Here’s another good series of shows to close out
the year of twenty-ten. Even if you can’t make it out to the New
Year’s Eve date, this live electronic concert should be perfect for
putting your mind in a place of recollection on the past year...
kind of a mental purifying experience. www.sts9.com

Cash’d Out

1.8.10 @ Bluebird Theater (Denver)
No offense, but if you don’t like or at least respect Johhny Cash,
you’re probably an asshole. An asshole that deserves another
chance to appreciate his songwriting capabilities performed
live. Billed as “The next best thing to Johhny Cash”, Cash’d
Out was spawned in 2004 in San Diego with the main purpose

of honoring the ‘Man in Black’. After piecing a proper band
together over the next couple of months, Cash’d Out was
ready to perform live. Since then things have blossomed and
the group has become the undisputed King of Johnny Cash
cover bands. The band plays all the crowd pleasing covers
you’d expect, and while no one can ever be quite as good as the
legend himself, it’s fun to hear and sing along with classics that
the whole crowd knows and loves. Should be a good ol’ time at
the Bluebird. www.cashdout.com

Dashboard Confessional

1.10.11 @ The Summit Music Hall (Denver)
In November, Dashboard Confessional is re-releasing their
first album, The Swiss Army Romance in honor of their 10 year
anniversary. How “emo” of them, you may say. And that certainly
is the term to describe this group... the original emo band that so
many lonely bros have listened to while sulking in their bedrooms.
Song titles like “Pretty Pathetic”, “Screaming Infidelities”, “Rapid
Hope Loss”, or “Don’t Wait” all demonstrate this melancholy
brand of emotion poured out of lead singer Chris Carrabba’s
soul. Millions of break-ups have surely been sound-tracked by
Dashboard albums. Despite their indie/alternative vibe, they have
always been the mainstream band of the ‘sensitive jock’ who is in
touch with his feelings. Formed in Boca Raton at the beginning of
the century, they continue to fill the world with sad music that
for some reason makes you feel a little better about yourself...
an outlet by comparison perhaps. Maybe you haven’t had
such a great start to the year? Well here’s your chance to go let
those pent up feelings loose with a bunch of other emos. www.
dashboardconfessional.com

Guster

1.14.11 @ Ogden Theater (Denver)
A Boston indie rock product, Guster formed in 1991 and stayed
relatively underground before 1999’s Lost And Gone Forever. Since
then they’ve been well known across the land, and in October of
this year they released their sixth album, Easy Wonderful. Beyond
their classic original work, they have the ability, and apparently
desire, to cover just about any and every popular song in existence.
They have taken on some pretty ballsy stuff: Bon Jovi, The Mamas
and Papas, Cake, Billy Joel, U2, Johnny Cash, The Cure, Talking
Heads, Ben Folds Five, Phil Collins, Rage Against the Machine,
Simon and Garfunkel, Nena, Blue Oyster Cult, Violent Femmes,
the theme song from Cheers!... and many many more. That’s
some serious range right there. It’s probably safe to expect
a few nifty covers on this Friday evening in January. It’s
also safe to expect a really strong dose of above average
tunes. www.guster.com

Daniel Tosh

1.15.11 @ Wells Fargo Theatre (Denver)
Yeah yeah, it’s not a “concert”, but it is quality live
entertainment that’s kind of on the same playing field as a
concert. This man Daniel Tosh is pretty damn funny, in case
you haven’t heard. If you’ve seen his show Tosh.0 recapping
the best (funniest) of the internet, then you understand his
hilarity. But his stand up is really good too, and when he’s
in town it’s a show worth seeing. Always nice to start off
the new year with a little bit of humor. Also, this may be
the perfect opportunity to get mega stoned and laugh until
you cry, pee your pants, vomit... whatever you do. Good
luck. www.danieltosh.com

119

120

121

Ten days after the accidents Derek had his first individual session, and things immediately went drastically wrong. The office was directly adjacent to the
med center, and as Derek sat down on the couch, he
found himself staring out a window at the helipad on
one side and the accident site where the fatal explosion occurred on the other. Five minutes into the session, a helicopter approached the helipad.
“It was so close the vibrations rattled the window and shook the pictures
on the walls,” Derek remembers. “I immediately broke into a cold sweat, literally waiting for that helicopter to crash. I had tunnel vision watching it, completely focused on every movement of the tail section, and I completely spaced
on the doctor trying to ask me questions. It wasn’t until it completely landed
that I realized the doctor was sitting next to me, trying to break my concentration on the helicopter.”
It had not occurred to the therapist, given what Derek had just experienced, that this was the wrong place to meet him.
“He was also so blown away as I was going through the story that he
was left kind of awestruck,” Derek observed. “He was floored, and couldn’t
help me.”
To make matters worse, the therapist couldn’t prescribe anything for
Derek. He’d have to go through the hospital psych ward for meds.
“In the end I just said f*** it, I need to get out of here,” Derek recalls. “My
knees were weak and shaking, and I had a panic attack leaving his office.”
Unfortunately, the disastrous first meeting caused Derek to finally snap
emotionally, and dangerously.

122

“Now I was finally speaking up,” he remembers, “and not in a good way.
I was nervous, mad and edgy. I was snapping at people, getting hostile and
finally starting to unravel.”
Despite this, Derek thought his best option was to get back onto a helicopter and face the anxiety head-on. The therapist warned him, however, that this
was the worst thing he could do.
“He said absolutely not,” Derek recalls. “He told me that this approach
only works about 10% of the time, and the other 90% of the time…there was
a good chance that the emotional overload could push me over the brink into
suicide mode.”
Derek was almost there already. Now he could only sleep about an hour
at a time, suffering horrific nightmares. His moods became manic, he was
having crying breakdowns and smashing things in his apartment at random.
Making matters worse, when Derek went back for the second meeting
the therapist never arrived. He’d been pulled into a suicide intervention, and
couldn’t call out. Derek then gave up on therapy and decided to do what he
was warned was the worst possible thing to do.
“I decided to take a shift,” he recalls. “I was going up. I had to know if I
could do this or not. I was either going to cure myself, or kill myself.”
So no one would stop him, Derek decided to take that shift at a base two
hours away from Flagstaff. However, he inadvertently arrived at the base 45
minutes early, and was overwhelmed.
“It was too much time,” he remembers. “I had an anxiety attack and
couldn’t get out of the car.”
Derek now felt he had only one possible course of action.
“If I’d had my gun with me,” he says now with no hesitation, “I would have
killed myself right then and there. My entire life was gone.”
He did, however, have a back-up plan he felt would have a more positive outcome.

(continued on page 124)

123

(continued from page 122)

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“I had a wife and daughter, and the only way I could take care of them if
I died (with my life insurance) would be to make it look like an accident, like
a car crash.”
Ironically, Derek picked the crash location based on his own professional
experience. He knew the area’s mountain roads and dangerous switchbacks
well, particularly one dangerous curve where he’d responded to seven different and often fatal accidents.
He popped his Rally Race Addition WRX Turbo-Charged Subaru into gear,
and headed for that mountain road.
“As soon as I made this plan,” he remembers, “the anxiety stopped.”
Derek also decided he’d need witnesses, so he planned to stop and let
three cars pass him, and then overtake all three on his way to the fatal curve,
making it look like he was just driving recklessly - with fatal results.
“I was elated,” he says, “that I’d come up with a plan to take care of everyone and end the suffering.”
What he didn’t anticipate, however, was an intervention from the only person who could stop him – his wife, Kelly.
As Derek pulled out behind the cars, Kelly called. He was 90 seconds
away from the fatal curve as he answered his cell.
“She asked me what I was doing,” he recalls. “The one thing she knew
was the sound of my car revving up through the gears, getting up to a high rate
of speed. Once she heard that, she wouldn’t let me off of the phone.”
He was now 45 seconds away from the curve.
“I did almost hang up on her,” he says now, “but she said she was having
a hard time with everything and she needed to talk to me. When she said she
needed my help, I thought about what I was doing, and throttled the car down.”
After their separation, Kelly had experienced severe depression and suicidal
thoughts, so she knew exactly what he was doing. Knowing she couldn’t talk
him out of it, she asked Derek for help instead, and it worked. He pulled over.
“She also knew what to say to get me to stop”, Derek recalls. “Though I
was perfectly comfortable with what I was doing, I wanted to make sure she
wasn’t going through one of her bad times, and she also said she was worried
about our daughter.”
She asked Derek to come down, have coffee and talk. Over coffee, she
suggested that they change their environment, and that maybe the environment was making them sick. By the end of the conversation, they’d decided to
leave Flagstaff the next day.

Derek, Kelly and their daughter left Arizona at 3am the next morning,
heading for California and the coastal town of Marina Del Rey.
“I intended to get counseling in California,” Derek recalls. “After that second accident I felt completely not in control of myself, and that was scary. I
couldn’t shower, couldn’t eat, and knew this was wrong but didn’t know why I
felt that way. This was depression.”
Out of immediate danger but still needing help, he found a PTSD therapist who worked with LA County Fire and Sheriff’s personnel and set up
an appointment.

124

It took Derek two sessions to get the whole story out, but after the first
session the therapist prescribed him Xanax for anxiety, Celexa, an anti-depressant to take twice daily and Busparin to boost the effects of the Celexa. After
two weeks, she switched him to the maximum dose of Paxil.
“The meds took away the depression,” he recalls, “and everything else.
They took away my ability to be happy, too. I was numb. I wasn’t happy or sad.
I had no personality at all.”
Derek also underwent EMDR Therapy, which desensitized patients to their
trauma if successful.
The procedure worked – to an extent.
“By the time she was done,” he says, “I could stand under a hovering
helicopter. I could even get on one. She disconnected the sensory stuff that
was giving me problems, but left me with anxiety attacks for no reason, short
temper and periods of manic, chaotic thoughts that were like anxiety attacks.
It worked for the sights and sounds of the accidents, but it didn’t take away
any of the other mental health issues.”
The procedure also produced side-effects.
“Now things that should have brought just minor stress provoked extreme
reactions,” he recalls. “Everything was huge, and this was while I was on the
medications. It took away the depression, but instead I became a scary asshole. My family was walking on pins and needles around me.”
With all his sick and vacation time tapped out, Derek tried to get back to
his job but found that option closed to him.
Company procedure required him to take a multiple choice question test,
after which a company analyst would determine if he was fit to return.
“After the test,” he says, “I had no idea how I did, or what they were looking for.”
The company called four weeks after the test and told Derek he failed,
and would have to accept long-term disability. Derek disputed the findings
but got nowhere.
With his own health insurance now exhausted, and he wasn’t sure what
to do next.
On a whim, he decided to get a tattoo, and while there Derek asked the
artist if he could get him some marijuana.
“I hadn’t smoked pot in over ten years because of my job,” he says.
Derek was unknowingly about to find the key to getting his life back.

Just after arriving in SoCal, Derek was amazed to find magazines devoted
to documenting potential medical uses of marijuana.
“I was shocked,” he says. “I’d never seen anything like them before in
my life.”
As he read them, he found articles on using marijuana medicinally to get
off of other drugs.
“By then,” he says, “I wanted off the meds because I knew they weren’t
for me, but I didn’t want to go cold turkey. They’d become routine.”
After smoking the marijuana he’d gotten with his tattoo, he immediately
noticed a change.

“Suddenly everything was good,” he remembers. “I’d never smiled so
much in my life. What really hit me, though, was that I breezed through the next
day without smoking and life was still good. This was not while I was high.”
He also noticed the mood swings he’d been enduring suddenly stopped.
“My daughter was late for school that day,” he remembers, “and on any
other day I would have completely blown up. That day, though, it was okay.
Life was good.”
Derek then began a routine of smoking just before going to bed, and found
that everything would then go fine the next day so he stopped taking the Xanax
every day.
“At first it was every other day,” he recalls, “and then it was every two to
three days.”
His medical training then kicked in, and focused on what he
was experiencing.
“Many people still don’t realize how many different types of herb there
are,” he says, “or know the difference between them. I found I didn’t like some
of the feelings I got from different strains, like I didn’t enjoy getting the munchies. So I decided to start doing research to find out what worked best for me. I
went online to look at the whole thing from a medicinal context.”
He quickly put the info he found to work.
“I checked out edibles,” he says, “not to get high, but like trying different
medications. I’d find a particular brand, like a type of fudge, and divide it up
into eight pieces. I’d eat one piece in the morning, not enough to get high but
enough to control my adverse symptoms, and then I weaned myself off of the
antidepressants. I was doing this with the support of my family physician, too.”
“He didn’t condone getting baked,” Derek adds, “and I agreed. I don’t
have cancer. But low levels worked for what I did have.”
Derek then stopped using Xanax entirely, and began to research PTSD

“Some of them told their VA doctors what they were doing,” Derek recalls,
“and they were dropped as patients, completely left hanging. This was no
‘three strikes and you’re out’ situation. They were immediately dropped. Doctors refused to see them and treat them. It was either Western psych medicine
or nothing.”
“Many vets were afraid to get Medicinal Marijuana cards because they’d
get in trouble with the VA,” he discovered. “Many of them had other wounds
they still needed the VA to treat. If they got put on some state list and the VA
found out, who knows what kind of trouble they’d get into.”
Though Derek had to scale back his research time recently to focus on
his new computer tech business and take care of his daughter, he’s only just
begun pursuing legitimizing medicinal marijuana to treat PTSD.
“I have the ability to measure the content of what works for me,” he adds.
“Unless bakers use the exact same ingredients, batches are going to be different. Since they usually bake using trimmings, it’s often a mix of everything.
Now, though, I have all my own stuff. I’m keeping meticulous records of butters
I make and strains used, and with that I should be able to create treatment
plans for PTSD patients and treat their issues with specific strains.”
“I want to get settled in this new job,” he says, “to create more time to
work on this because I have knowledge people can use, even just focusing on
veterans coming back from combat.”
As for himself, Derek now feels like he’s overcome what he went through
over the last two years, and he’s now moving forward with life.
“I feel like I’m finally normal again,” he says. “I’m better than I was before
the accidents. I smoke a little bit now and then, but smoking doesn’t work as
well for me as the baked goods. With the lack of consistency in baked goods
at dispensaries, I’m now making my own.”
The biggest problems he sees in the medicinal marijuana situation in the

Derek then began a routine of smoking just before going to bed, and found that everything would then go fine
the next day so he stopped taking the Xanax every day.
forums online to see what else he could learn.
“I found the THC Expo,” he remembers, “and there I found a Canadian
publication called Treating Yourself. This was legitimate medical research.”
In Treating Yourself, Derek found stories about Canadian doctors treating
Iraqi war veterans’ PTSD with medicinal marijuana.
“Then I was already treating myself,” he says, “but being medically
trained, I wanted to find more legitimacy to it. The information was pretty generalized, but at least I knew they were doing it, and it was working.”
“Treating Yourself is for patients,” he explains. “If it was a medical journal,
it would have given me everything I was looking for. In hindsight, I may try
to find these doctors and learn what kind of doses they were talking about.”
After doing more online interaction with PTSD sufferers, some of the information he found was disturbing from his medical point of view.
“Some people were getting no help,” he says. “Other people were having
serious nightmares and had to do really hardcore indica to go to bed and then
sativa during the day. They were self-medicating, but with no guidelines to
go by.”
He found more information that bothered him.
“The people working with doctors were all in Canada,” he says. “Everyone in
the U.S. was on their own, though some of them were being seen at VA hospitals.”
Further research revealed some of the most disturbing information he
found, given how much the U.S. prides itself on taking care of its veterans.

United States today?
“Serious lack of research in the United States,” he says, “and a lack of
consistency in the products available to medicinal marijuana users.”
“For me,” he adds, “this is only the beginning. I know how to write articles
for medical journals, and I will tell my story with research to back it. Other
people telling their stories aren’t trained to do this, but I have the training with
a background in emergency medicine. I’ve handled dozens of other medicines
and saved lives with them. I’m going to nail this down in an article to the medical community and to the people in it who are willing to take a second look.
Nobody’s putting information out there that’s useful for people with PTSD and
anxiety, but we know it’s being used for it.”
“For this to be taken seriously in the medical world,” he concludes, “there
has to be more definitive, specific prescribing guidelines, and I will write legitimate guidelines that will be very difficult for even the most staunch antimedical marijuana doctors to refute. I’m writing those guidelines so that they
will work in any American Medical Association journal, and they are not going
to be able to fight it.”

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dIrECtIOns
Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce
heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and
the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. Scrape into a mixing
bowl, and cool to warm, about 20 minutes.
Once the quinoa has cooled, stir in the pecans, cranberries, THC
olive oil, and lemon juice; season to taste with salt and pepper to taste. Let
stand at room temperature for 1 hour before serving.

gReeN salad with PeaRs aNd
goRgoNzola
IngrEdIEnts
-1 head of butter lettuce (or Boston lettuce), cored, washed and dried
and torn into bite-sized pieces
-1/4 cup dried cranberries or cherries
-1/3 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
-2 pears, cored and sliced
-1/2 cup candied pecans
drEssIng
-2 teaspoons whole grain mustard
-2 tablespoons champagne vinegar (or red wine vinegar or balsamic)
-1 tablespoon honey
-1 tablespoon of minced shallot
-1/3 cup THC olive oil
-Pinch of salt and pepper
dIrECtIOns
Toss lettuce, cranberries or cherries, gorgonzola, pears and pecans
in a large salad bowl. Set aside and prepare dressing. Alternately, set
lettuce leaves on 6 salad plates, and top with cranberries or cherries,
gorgonzola, pears and pecans.
Place mustard in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk in vinegar, honey
and shallot. Slowly drizzle in THC olive oil, while whisking constantly,
to emulsify. Season with salt and pepper. Toss salad with half of the
dressing (or drizzle over the plated salads). If more dressing is needed,
add it a little at a time, taking care not to drench the leaves. Taste for
seasoning and add more salt or pepper if needed. Serve immediately.

choco-PRetzel sticks
with a kick
IngrEdIEnts
-12 ounces white or semi-sweet or chocolate chips/melting disks
-24 pretzel rods (8-oz. package)
-4 tsp THC vegetable oil
-2 cups of your favorite candy, nuts or topping
-8 clear plastic bags
-8 ribbons
COOKIng InstrUCtIOns
Line three baking sheets with wax paper and set aside. Melt chocolate
over a double boiler or in the microwave.
dOUBlE BOIlEr
Place chocolate and THC vegetable oil in a heatproof bowl over a pot
of simmering water. Water should barely simmer, not boil. Stir the
chocolate frequently with a rubber spatula until melted, approximately
5 to 10 minutes.

MICrOWAVE
Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave at 50 percent
power for anywhere between 2 and 4 minutes (cook times vary with
different models). Heat in 20-second intervals, stirring in between.
Finish heating when most (but not all) of the chocolate is melted. Stir
continuously until chocolate is smooth, shiny, and completely melted.
Remove the bowls of melted chocolate from the double boiler/
microwave. Working in the chocolate bowl, dip in each pretzel. If the
chocolate level is shallow, use a silicone pastry brush or rubber spatula
to help smooth the chocolate over three-quarters of the pretzel. Be sure
to leave a small portion of the pretzel uncovered by the chocolate to
serve as the handle. Shake off excess chocolate so the pretzel has a thick
– but not too thick – layer of chocolate.
Place each dipped pretzel on a wax paper-lined baking sheet
and sprinkle with your toppings. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or until
chocolate is completely set.
Gently peel the pretzel rods off of the wax paper and place 3 to
4 rods in each cellophane bag. Tie each with a ribbon and refrigerate
until ready to give.